Putin’s comments about the 2016 US elections were “eerily reminiscent of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion,” said the AJC, in reference to a notorious slanderous forgery accusing the Jews of world domination.

In an interview with NBC on Saturday, Putin suggested that those behind the meddling in the US election are not Russians “but Ukrainians, Tatars or Jews but with Russian citizenship…maybe they have dual citizenship or a green card; maybe the US paid them for this. How can you know that? I do not know either.”

Responding to the accusation, the American Jewish Committee (AJC) said that Putin’s words were “eerily reminiscent of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion,” demanding that Putin should clarify his comments “at the earliest opportunity.”

The Protocols of Elders of Zion is an infamous anti-Semitic fabricated text purporting to describe a Jewish plan for global domination. The forgery was first published in Russia in 1903. According to the claims made by some of its publishers, the Protocols are the minutes of a late 19th-century meeting where Jewish leaders discussed their goal of global Jewish hegemony by subverting the morals of non-Jews, and by controlling the press and the world’s economies.

In Israel, Members of Knesset (MK) Ksenia Svetlova and Nachman Shai called on the Israeli government to condemn Putin’s remarks.

“Maybe the Jews interfered in the American elections, maybe the Jews control the world, maybe Jews slaughtered the Jews in Poland. For all those allegations, there is one origin: Jew-hatred,” stated Svetlova, demanding that the government “come out strongly against these serious remarks made by the Russian president.”

“If Israel won’t defend the Jews, nobody will do so in its place,” she underscored.
“This is the worst form of anti-Semitism,” said Shai.

Putin’s comments “demonstrate that nothing has changed in the perception of Jews as those responsible for the ‘world’s evil.’ A strong response is required from the Israeli government,” he demanded.

“I would expect Jewish organizations to join and condemn these serious remarks. They also carry responsibility for the fate of the Jewish people, whoever and wherever they are,” he added.